masters



March 8, 1932. c. 1.. MASTERS 1,343,962

' ATTACHING MEANS Filed Nov. 30. 1929 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS v C 'arZ L. Master's" Patented Mar; 8,1932

GAIBL Li MASTERS, or iofixuhs, ,nEw

nm'mcnnve Janene Application filed November 30,19. semi m nim ses."

This invention relates generally to a means for attaching various objects to a supporting surface, and coinprehends more particularly an improved means for attaching to the upholstered surfaces of a motor vehicle, a de- 7 vice for maintaining a servicing record, such as set forth in my co-pending application Serial No. 294,556,filed July 21, 1928. In its broad aspect, the invention compre- 10 hends an attaching means for securely'attaching various articles or objects to areadily vpenetralole surface defining element, such as a cloth, fabric or the like. v V More specifically, the invention comprel5 hends an attaching means including a plurality of bendable prongs or tines projecting or relatively in opposite directions and of rela tively different lengths, whereby the'longer initially inserted prongs are retained against complete withdrawal from the supporting element by the limited subsequent movement of the shorter prong or prongs. 1

The invention further resides in the provision of an attaching means which is extreme 1y simple in its construction, which facilitates the attachment of the article, object or device to a supporting member and which effectually retains the article, object or'device in its attached relation to a member. g a

With the aboverecited and other objects in view, reference is had to the followingdescription' V and accompanying drawings, in which there is exhibited one example-or embodiment of the invention, While the claims define the actual scope of the same.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear View of a device equipped with an attaching means constructed in accordance with the invention prior to the at- 40 tachment of the device to a supporting mem ber. V Figure 2 is a view illustrating the device in attached relation to a supportingmember.

Figure 3 is a side view illustrating the 5 initial step in applying the attaching means,

. Figure 4 is a similar View illustrating the second step in effecting the attachment. p

Figure 5 is a similar View illustrating the attaching means in fully attached condition.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, A designates a device which is designedto be attached to a supporting member B,*which'may he'of any suitable readily "penetralole or perforable material whichmust be slightlyflexible; The device A carries one 155 I or more. prongs or tines G, which areof re latlvely-t greater length than a similar tine or V tines'D and which tines C must of necessity project in an opposite direction to the tine or tines D. The tines C and D must of neceseo sity behbendable and, in practice, said tines, V

may be formed integral with or attached at one end to the device A. As illustratedthe tines G and D are formedintegral by slitting the device A and striking-up thetines 01-165 prongs therefrom, but it is to be clearly under stood thatithis is merely illustrative of one manner in whichthe tines maybe formed. Itis also necessary that the tines O and D be properlyspaced fromeeach other totaccom plish the endsof the-invention, vbut,'in:practice,: the free pointed terminals E of the tines G are not necessarily i directed away fromthe endxof the. tines or prongs Dlwln'ch are l attached to the device A; g It is clearly apparent I "the free pointed terminals E- of the prongs or W tines O are initiallyinserted in' thei'member '55 I B, asgi'llustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings, until the ends of the prongsor tines C which are connected with the device A function to limit the inserting operation. Thefree pointed terminal F of the prong or prongs D is then inserted by a reverse movement of the device A from the movement employed for inserting theprongs C. Due to the fact that the p'rong or prongs D are of lesser length than the prong or prongs C, it is apparent as that the end of the prong or prongs D which is anchored to the device A will limit the movement of the device A in the opposite direction to a point where a portion of the prong or prongs G will still remain inserted in the I member B, as clearly shown in Figure 4 of the drawings. The final operation in establishing the connection of the member A with the member B consists in pressing, deforming or permanently bending the prongs, as illustrated in Figureo, to further initial holding of the device A in attached relation to the member B. Obviously, this may be accom- V plished by pressing directly inward on the w device A against a solid backing over which the member B is arranged or, where there is no backing, a suitable instrument may be brought to bear against the ends of the prongs which extend through the member It Will be further observed that the attaching means is preferably intended to form its own opening through which the prongs extend and that the attaching means is concealed from View by the device AQ It is also to be taken into consideration that the prongs may be carried by a member to which a device .is to be attached, and the device being attached will then receive the prongs instead of carrying the prongs. What is claimed is:

1. An article adapted for attachment to a flexible penetrable support, said article having a metallic rear wall comprising portions slitted from said wall to provideoppositely projecting bendable prongs of relatively different lengths normally offset from-the plane of the wall and adapted for engagement with the support by pressing the article against the support and sliding the same successively in the direction of the projection of the longer and shorter prongs respectively, and adapted to clampingly engage the support by exerting a final inward pressure on the article to bend the prongs into substantially the same plane with the rear wall. I

2. An article adapted for attachment to a flexible penetrable support, said article ineluding a metallic rear wall having slitted portions defining integral oppositely projecting bendableprongs of relatively different lengths normally offset from'the plane of the wall to facilitate engagementwith the support andadapted to be subsequently bent into substantially the same plane with said wall for clamping the support. 7

' CARL L. MASTERS. 

